It’s no question that college tuition is expensive, but the other costs of school are often overlooked. One of the biggest ones? A meal plan. In most colleges, meal plans are a mandatory cost, but don’t fret — there are many ways to get the most bang for your buck from your college meal plan. It just takes a little bit of research and some wise decisions.

Know Your Meal Plan

Knowing your college’s meal plan system is the first step. Different meal plans require different money-saving strategies. Generally, colleges have two types of meal plans: pay-per-swipe plans or pay-per-item point plans.

Pay-per-swipe plans require you to purchase a certain number of meal swipes for the semester or year. Each swipe gets you into the dining hall and allows you to eat as much or as little as you’d like for a flat rate (whatever the cost of the swipe was). For example, if the meal swipe cost $12 and you only eat an apple, you’re paying just as much as the student who ate four slices of pizza, ice cream and two tacos.

You can calculate the cost for each swipe by dividing your meal plan cost by the number of swipes you get. Some college websites list the cost of a swipe. Costs can vary based on time of day — generally, breakfast swipes are cheaper than dinner ones. These are best for students with a big appetite or who love to indulge in a variety foods. They aren’t as beneficial to those who are picky eaters or have small appetites.

Pay per item plans are similar to the concept of a secured credit card. You choose the amount you’d like to convert to points for your personal campus dining account. You can’t spend more than the amount you have on your account. These points are used to pay per item. For example, if you buy a sandwich and a drink, you’re charged the price for the sandwich and the drink. It’s not unlimited food and drink for a flat rate. You can generally add points to your meal plan. You can only spend what you put on your account. This is great tool for learning budget control.

Generally, colleges don’t let you choose which plan you use. They likely already have a system in place — it’s smart to ask about it during college tours. Even though you can’t choose the plan, you can control how much you spend.

1. Reduce Your Plan

In most colleges, meal plans can be reduced by switching your dining plan amount. Keep track of what you’re spending to see if it’s more financially savvy to have fewer swipes or less cash in your meal plan. Stay realistic — not having enough on your account might lead to more nights spent ordering take out, which can be bad for your budget.

2. Keep Track

Keep track of the swipes or points you’ve used and how many you have left. It’s probably easiest to do so on your phone because it’s almost always with you. This helps you budget your meals and avoid having a lot of leftover swipes and points that might expire at the end of the semester or year. Plus, most colleges have websites or apps that allow you to check how many swipes or meal points you have left.

3. Check Expiration Policies

At most colleges, your points or swipes expire at the end of each semester or year. Check your college website to review their specific policy. As the expiration date approaches, make an extra effort to use up whatever will not carry over. Some colleges even allow you to use these points to order food and drinks in bulk.

4. Mix Food Stations

If one station isn’t working for you, don’t waste money on something you don’t want. Try combining stations. A piece of chicken from the grill is a great topping to add to a simple salad from the salad bar.

5. Take Food to Go

While some schools frown on this, sometimes you’re on-the-go or just want a snack for later. Bringing plastic bags or small containers to the dining hall can be a great way to have leftovers.

6. Bring a Travel Mug

Instead of buying coffee or other drinks, bring mugs or travel cups with you to the dining hall and fill them up.

7. Check the Menu in Advance

Most colleges put their weekly dining hall menus online. If there is nothing in the dining hall worth paying for, opt for a different eatery on campus or cooking something in your dorm.

8. Have an Affordable Back-up Meal

This is wise for when you’re in the dining hall and your budget is tight. Some of my cheapest go-to backup meals were a toasted bagel or a simple salad. Chances are there’s at least one or two things that, while not your top choice, can still be a decent, budget-friendly meal.

9. Choose the Right Time

Like in the real world, college dining halls have a breakfast, lunch and dinner rush. The more you visit the dining hall, the more you’ll learn when these times are. This is typically right after evening classes, right before morning classes and around noon. If possible, visit the dining hall before peak times so you have more options to choose from.

Also, avoid arriving at the tail end of popular meal times. For example, my campus dining hall served “light fare” after lunch and before dinner, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., which meant there were limited dining options and it wasn’t worth the cost of a meal swipe.

10. Ask About Your Dietary Needs

Many schools offer options for those who are gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian. Get the most out of your meal plan by ensuring you can eat safely and comfortably with alternative options.

11. Plan Ahead

If you have limited swipes, plan carefully. It might be better to use a swipe for a filling dinner than for a light breakfast where you only want coffee and cereal, things you can buy and make in your dorm.

12. Check Local Restaurants

In some towns, some local restaurants and cafes accept meal swipes and dining plan points as a form of payment. This is especially convenient when you’re nearing the end of the semester and are seeking ways to use up your points before they expire.

13. Get Rid of the Plan

While this isn’t recommended for most freshmen with limited access to kitchens, if you end up in a living situation with a kitchen you may want to nix the meal plan altogether. Just be careful — if you cut the meal plan and end up never cooking in favor of ordering pizza every night, it can be easy to blow your entire budget very quickly.

14. Keep Food in Your Dorm

It can be cheaper to make your own trips to the grocery store for some foods, especially when on the pay-per-item plan. For example, if your go-to morning breakfast is a bowl of cereal, buying a box of it and a half gallon of milk to keep in your dorm can be the cheaper, more convenient option.

Or, if you find you’re not that hungry it’s good to have some crackers and microwavable meals to avoid wasting a costly meal swipe.

15. Charge Your Meal Plan on a Cash Back Card

If you’re going to be paying for it anyway, see if you can charge your meal plan cost to a rewards credit card. By doing so, you can earn cash back for an essential cost. Most good rewards cards require a decent credit score, so it’s wise to check yours before applying. You can check two credit scores for free with Credit.com.

Image: FatCamera

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Sign up for our Credit Report Card and receive the latest tips & advice from our team of 50+ credit and money experts as well as a FREE Credit Score and action plan. Sign up now.

Paige DiFiore is the former Editorial Assistant at Credit.com and a Journalism student at Marist College and the blogger behind eyelinerwingsandprettythings.com. She loves soft kittens, sharp wit and even sharper eyeliner wings.

Comments on articles and responses to those comments are not provided or commissioned by a bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by a bank advertiser. It is not a bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Please note that our comments are moderated, so it may take a little time before you see them on the page. Thanks for your patience.

Certain credit cards and other financial products mentioned in this and other sponsored content on Credit.com are Partners with Credit.com. Credit.com receives compensation if our users apply for and ultimately sign up for any financial products or cards offered.

Hello, Reader!

Thanks for checking out Credit.com. We hope you find the site and the journalism we produce useful. We wanted to take some time to tell you a bit about ourselves.

Our People

The Credit.com editorial team is staffed by a team of editors and reporters, each with many years of financial reporting experience. We’ve worked for places like the New York Times, American Banker, Frontline, TheStreet.com, Business Insider, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC and many others. We also employ a few freelancers and more than 50 contributors (these are typically subject matter experts from the worlds of finance, academia, politics, business and elsewhere).

Our Reporting

We take great pains to ensure that the articles, video and graphics you see on Credit.com are thoroughly reported and fact-checked. Each story is read by two separate editors, and we adhere to the highest editorial standards. We’re not perfect, however, and if you see something that you think is wrong, please email us at editorial team [at] credit [dot] com,

The Credit.com editorial team is committed to providing our readers and viewers with sound, well-reported and understandable information designed to inform and empower. We won’t tell you what to do. We will, however, do our best to explain the consequences of various actions, thereby arming you with the information you need to make decisions that are in your best interests. We also write about things relating to money and finance we think are interesting and want to share.

In addition to appearing on Credit.com, our articles are syndicated to dozens of other news sites. We have more than 100 partners, including MSN, ABC News, CBS News, Yahoo, Marketwatch, Scripps, Money Magazine and many others. This network operates similarly to the Associated Press or Reuters, except we focus almost exclusively on issues relating to personal finance. These are not advertorial or paid placements, rather we provide these articles to our partners in most cases for free. These relationships create more awareness of Credit.com in general and they result in more traffic to us as well.

Our Business Model

Credit.com’s journalism is largely supported by an e-commerce business model. Rather than rely on revenue from display ad impressions, Credit.com maintains a financial marketplace separate from its editorial pages. When someone navigates to those pages, and applies for a credit card, for example, Credit.com will get paid what is essentially a finder’s fee if that person ends up getting the card. That doesn’t mean, however, that our editorial decisions are informed by the products available in our marketplace. The editorial team chooses what to write about and how to write about it independently of the decisions and priorities of the business side of the company. In fact, we maintain a strict and important firewall between the editorial and business departments. Our mission as journalists is to serve the reader, not the advertiser. In that sense, we are no different from any other news organization that is supported by ad revenue.

Visitors to Credit.com are also able to register for a free Credit.com account, which gives them access to a tool called The Credit Report Card. This tool provides users with two free credit scores and a breakdown of the information in their Experian credit report, updated twice monthly. Again, this tool is entirely free, and we mention that frequently in our articles, because we think that it’s a good thing for users to have access to data like this. Separate from its educational value, there is also a business angle to the Credit Report Card. Registered users can be matched with products and services for which they are most likely to qualify. In other words, if you register and you find that your credit is less than stellar, Credit.com won’t recommend a high-end platinum credit card that requires an excellent credit score You’d likely get rejected, and that’s no good for you or Credit.com. You’d be no closer to getting a product you need, there’d be a wasted inquiry on your credit report, and Credit.com wouldn’t get paid. These are essentially what are commonly referred to as "targeted ads" in the world of the Internet. Despite all of this, however, even if you never apply for any product, the Credit Report Card will remain free, and none of this will impact how the editorial team reports on credit and credit scores.

Your Stories

Lastly, much of what we do is informed by our own experiences as well as the experiences of our readers. We want to tell your stories if you’re interested in sharing them. Please email us at story ideas [at] credit [dot] com with ideas or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.